ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3330 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3330 ************************************ 14 Aug 2007 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know when and where the name was used before 1600, and said that you thought the name was Welsh, meaning 'silver'. Here is what we have found. or is a modern Italian name, deriving from the name . [1] In Greek mythology, is the name of a daughter of King Minos of Crete and his queen, Pasiphae: (where represents a transliteration of the Greek letter eta, as opposed to which represents epsilon). [2] The Greeks interpreted as , and this form in turn contributed to the development of the modern name or . [4,5] However, we have found no evidence that is anything but a modern coinage in Italian, and we've found no other pre-1600 examples of this name. (We'd like to note that while is the Welsh word for 'silver', this word is unrelated to the name .) If you'd like to consider a name similar to , we recommend you develop a Greek persona. We find examples of in the 3rd C BC, between 323 BC and 310 AD, in the 1st-2nd C AD, and in the Byzantine era, and examples of between the 3rd-5th C AD and in the Byzantine era. We also found a similar, but unrelated, name , in 4th-5th century Macedonia. [3] If you'd like to use a name similar to , then , , or is a suitable choice for an early-period Greek woman. The types of bynames that women used varied quite a bit during the period in which these names are found. If you'd like help developing an authentic byname, let us know which given name interests you and what period you'd like to re-create, and we'll be happy to help. We hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you won't hesitate to write us again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Maridonna Benvenuti, Mari neyn Brian, Ursula Georges, Brygyt Strangewayes, Talan Gwynek, and Aine Steele. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 14 August 2007 -- References: [1] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), s.n. Ariadne. [2] Smith, William, ed., _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology_, (Boston: Little, Brown and co., 1867; WWW: University of Michigan Library, 2005), s.v. Ariadne. http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/ [3] Fraser, P.M., and E. Matthews, "The Lexicon of Greek Personal Names" (WWW: Oxford University, 1998), volumes 1, 2, 3a, and 4. http://www.lgpn.ox.ac.uk/ [4] De Felice, Emidio, _Dizionario dei nomi italiani_ (Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milan, 1992), s.n. Arianna [5] One of the woman in [3] is recorded as both and .